A Warm Glow

You’ve been a hair and makeup artist for about nine years now. What was it that first sparked your interest in this field?
It’s a very funny story! I used to be a tomboy and completely didn’t use makeup or anything, but I think my aunt kind of saw how I appreciated people that were all dressed up and looking pretty, so she was like “Hey, do you want to come and join this multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme or not?”. It was funny because I don’t know how she made the link, but I was like “Okay, I can go and have a look”. I mean, what’s there to lose? And this MLM actually had a very good makeup line, so that’s how I started learning a lot about products and application and stuff like that. Well, of course, I’m no longer with them. It’s just funny how it kickstarted my career.

What’s the biggest thing you’ve learnt as a makeup artist?
That you can’t be friends with everyone. Not everyone will like you, and you cannot expect everyone to like you. If they like your work, that’s one thing. But sometimes, if you meet someone and you really cannot click, it’s okay—that’s not really a rejection of you.

As a makeup artist, do you feel the pressure of always having to look your best?
Actually, it’s a big yes. When you’re in the beauty industry, you’re representing your own brand, and people always expect you to have the best looking makeup, the best skin, and to dress nicely, especially if you’re involved in shoots with a lot of fashion labels. But then my excuse is that I make people look good. I’m not in front of the camera, so it doesn’t make sense for me to need to tend to my own makeup—especially if it’s a long day of shoots—when I would much rather prioritise the talents.

So far, the people that I’ve met and worked with don’t give me that kind of pressure, which is great. But it’s not like I don’t feel it. I just rationalise it to make things easier for myself.

What are you most thankful for in your line of work?
The friends who actually built me up when I first started out. There are also some people I’ve met along the way that I thought would be competition, but then they turned out to be really nice people. There really isn’t any overlap or competition in terms of our clients, and our work is completely different. But then we somehow just get each other, and we can talk about anything with each other too. The entertainment industry is very bitchy, so it’s always nice to just be able to call someone and cut to the chase.

Being self-employed, how do you set boundaries between work and your personal life?
I really try to limit my phone time. Everything is about social media right now, and I didn’t realise how strong of a social media presence I have, so the only thing I can do is limit it, and make sure that there’s an intention behind whatever I post. I used to use it indiscriminately and just posted whatever I wanted, because I thought “it’s my life what, who cares?”. But now I think there needs to be some thought behind it.

How do you like to spend your free time?
Well, I like to go and tan intentionally, because whenever I work, I can unfortunately be caught outdoors, and I get very ridiculous looking tan lines, so I always try to make sure that I set aside a day to go and tan. I’ll wear a really nice bikini, be confident, and even out my tan. Yeah, that’s my hobby—to even out my tan (laughs).